Live Coverage of Expedition 48 Departure Begins

Today is homecoming day for NASA astronaut Jeff Williams (shown above) and cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka. The Expedition 48 trio has been in space since March 18.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams and his Russian crewmates Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos are scheduled to return to Earth today at 9:13 p.m. EDT (7:13 a.m. Kazakhstan time, Sept. 7). The trio will land in their Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

At this time, there are no concerns or issues being worked, and hatch closure is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. NASA Television will provide coverage beginning at 2:15 p.m.

During his time on station, Williams surpassed former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly’s U.S. record of time spent in space. He returns to Earth with 534 total days in space, passing Kelly’s record of 520 days by two weeks.

Williams handed over command of the space station to cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos on Monday, Sept. 5. When the spacecraft undocks from the station, Expedition 49 formally will begin.

NASA Television coverage for Soyuz activities Sept. 6 are listed below. Watch live online at www.nasa.gov/ntv.